Steam DRM required for Boxed Railworks?

[JBrownCS]

Saw this over at UKTrainsim: http://www.uktrainsim.com/index2.php...rm_report=1173 .

<QUOTE>Note: Steam WILL be required and you WILL need to log in to the Internet on the machine that you are going to run RailWorks on. When you first install it, it will activate itself across the Internet, without this step it will not work. Once activated, you can select "go offline" which then will not require any further internet access for around 3 months however Steam will require you to go back online approximately every three months or so to re-validate the product. Those of you who are running games machines off the Internet please keep this in mind.<END QUOTE>

Also saw this on railsimulator.com: http://www.railsimulator.com/en/node/6436

<QUOTE>Notice: Product offered subject to your acceptance of the Steam Subscriber Agreement (“SSA”). You must activate this product via the internet by registering for a Steam account and accepting the SSA. Please see http://www.steampowered.com/agreement to view the SSA prior to purchase. (In Red)<END QUOTE>

Sounds like Steam DRM will be required for the boxed version. This is really too bad, even though RSDL fumbled some things I felt RS had a lot of potential but Steam DRM/activation is a complete non starter for me.

[sniper297]

What does "DRM" stand for, anyway? Biggest problem here is sheeple these days never think of rebelling and voting "NO!!!" with their wallets, so the Piracy Paranoiacs get more paranoid and obnoxious every year cuz it still sells. Then they can't figure out that it creates a DEMAND for cracked software, since guys who legitimately pay for the product eventually find it unusable without some kind of crack.

[CottonBelter]

I'm sorry, but what is your problem with activation via steam? Not meaning to be too harsh on you, just want some feedback from the community so I can take in consideration of the problems people might have with steam.



Hmm... RSDL? Hello? Not asking any feedback from the community are you? Tsk. Tsk.

[JBrownCS]

CottonBelter,
I made a post a while back giving my reasons for not liking Steam DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) The url is: https://www.trainsim.com/vbts/showthread.php?t=280695

Here's an article that talks about some of my concerns: http://www.cepro.com/article/what_ha...t_of_business/

Please keep in mind I don't have anything against payware. I've probably spent close to $500 on MSTS addons since I got into simming (My personal favorite is the Pacific Surfliner Route by the way).

[eaglefan9727]

If this the case, Then I wont be waiting to buy it on ebay in a couple months when the price has dropped to only a few bucks like the original RS did. I still find it funny that about 8 months ago. There were a number of copies of RS for 1 cent and they still couldnt even sell it at that price.

[JBrownCS]

Here's another website dealing with DRM for those that are curious: http://www.defectivebydesign.org/

[sniper297]

CottonBelter, I'm taking a SWAG here that you're not old enough to remember the dawn of the computer age. In The Beginning, you bought a cassette tape recorder and that was your storage. You bought Rainbow magazine and programmed your own computer games by typing in all the BASIC code listed in the magazine pages, then CSAVE to the audio cassette. Later came 5 1/5 inch floppy disks, and the introduction of games already programmed onto floppies. In 1984 came the IBM personal computer, MSDOS, then 3 1/2 inch diskettes. Altho the hard cased 3 1/2 inch diskettes weren't as fragile as the 5 1/2 inch floppies, the instructions always said to copy the disk to a play disk and use that to play, store the original disk in a safe place as a backup. Later came the hard disk drive so you could install the game onto a hard disk and stow the floppy in a safe place.

Some abuse happened, mostly kids "sharing" games, one kid would buy the game and install on three or four of his friends' computers, so a few sales were lost that way. Then some genius came up with the unholy idea of the key disk. That was the end of safekeeping, if the key disk was lost or damaged you could no longer play the game regardless of how many backup copies you made - and requiring the key disks to be used every time the game was played made it a sure bet that eventually it would get lost or no longer work, and the game you paid for is now useless. Us old DOS Dinosaurs got in the habit of backing up everything so you didn't lose data, then copyguard makes backing up data useless since if you lose the key the data is useless, and there's no way to make a backup of the key.

That's my objection to the whole idea - my youngest son's computer recently had a virus so evil that I had to format his hard disk and reinstall the operating system, then all his games. My 8 year old MSTS disks have been in safe storage all this time since MSTS didn't require a key disk, so I was able to reinstall MSTS on his computer, no hunting up keycodes or activating anything. Didn't lose too many of his routes or trainsets either, since I had backups of all that less than 2 months old on CD-RWs.

I can LIVE with activation - validation even tho I don't LIKE it. I willingly squint thru my greasy bifocals to type in ten zillion digit codes and provide info on my mother's kindergarten teacher's hat size ONCE. After that Via con Dios, if I need a patch I'll look you up, otherwise stuff your license agreement sideways and don't BOTHER me anymore. I'm paying cash for a game I want to be able to play it today or if the mood strikes me ten years from now, copyguard makes the latter unlikely to impossible to do. As I've said before I bought the download version of Railsim from the EA store, about a year later didn't have the money to pay the cable bill and lost my internet connection for six months. Six months that I could not play a game that I paid hard earned cash for because the EA download manager wants to check once a week to see that you're not a software pirate. 3 months is better than 1 week, but even that is an intrusive, obnoxious inconvenience for legitimate customers, those who play offline on an isolated computer have to go thru the gyrations of reconnecting that computer to the internet at least that often to keep using the product they bought. The whole thing is ludicrous, if I ever met an ACTUAL "Software Pirate" I would buy games from them instead of the legitimate publishers, even if they charged double the retail cost, simply so I wouldn't have to constantly reassure some paranoid moron that he already HAS my money.

That's the objection.

[philskene]

Jim --

Well said.

And that don't even cover them dudes in Botswana and outback Australia who want to play train games but for whom the nearest Internet connection is two day's walking distance away.

As has been said before, this sort of nonsense only hinders the honest. The others will inevitably find a way around it.

Phil

[dmcdriver]

You two guys just summed it up perfectly. What's even worse is that all this anti-piracy b.s. is even incorporated into many music CDs. More than once, I had to return a legally purchased CD to the music store because it wouldn't play in my car stereo and even sometimes on my home stereo due to copyright protection. I then had to download said music ILLEGALLY from the internet! Go Figure!

I hope RSDL, M$, EA etc. read this thread, especially the last two posts. When are they going to finally get the hint? As the old saying goes, locks just keep the honest people out. If I shell out my hard earned money for RW, I'll be damned if they demand that I prove that I bought it, every 3 months. Jumping through all the hoops the first time to "activate" software I bought legally is annoying enough. There's no need to ever re-check that my purchased product is still legal. They already have my money! No thanks, I'll PASS!

Rich

[CottonBelter]

Well, huh. Read the bottom of this post and look for the name Rail Simulator in the middle of the page.
http://reclaimyourgame.com/index.php...d=45&Itemid=11

I believe games are pirated not because they don't want to pay for the product, but because the game they legally purchased doesn't work right or at all!